Visisting a recruiter.
 

Well tomorrow I am scheduled to meet with an Army recruiter. I know there are quite a few military GC military personnel, so I have a question for you. Do you guys have any questions that you think it would be a good idea for me to ask?

I'm not in the military, but I almost joined the Army in residency. Realize that the recruiters do NOT have to tell you the truth. Mine told me so many lies that when I met with his superior, everything that was told to me at the next level directly contradicted the original information. Take everything with a grain of salt and be prepared to compare notes with what you are told at the next level. I learned quickly that what I thought I would be getting into was not what it seemed to be.

I was in the military for a while (both Army& Air Force). I knew alot of recuriters personally. You do have to be very carefully. Some do lie, however most just OMIT the negative stuff- unless you ask specifically.

My first tip, is ask someone you know in real life to go with you. my 2nd tip is to actually listen to them. I have been to the recuiters office with several people who asked for help....let ended up listening to them and not me..and some paid the price for it...and got crappy jobs that wont translate well back into the civilian world.

Dont get me wrong. I love the military, and would do it again!
Start with knowing what kind job YOU WANT, not what they want you to do, second is knowing what kind of benefits are given to everyone (not just you cause your special for signing up that day). oh yeah, the military can make any job sound cool...

Feel free to PM if you have any specific questions.

Check out this site. it has a lot of good info.
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/armyj...g_the_Army.htm

Are you looking at full time active duty post graduation, or reserve/national guard? Those are all quite different and the questions can vary in regards to loan payments, education benefits, and so on.

Full time active duty, but I am not enrolled in school at the moment.

So you're planning to be enlisted or have you graduated (sorry I can't remember)?

If you haven't finished school ask about the Green to Gold program, and also education benefits you can use at local universities where you may be stationed or for correspondence. I worked at a school bookstore and a huge part of my job was sending textbooks for correspondence classes to people in hot sandy areas. My sister did reserve to pay for school, including a graduate degree, so it is worth asking about even if you're active duty. Since you've attended college definitely ask if your credits will apply for anything, especially rank increases, or different jobs.

Enlisted. thanks for the advice. Asking about education didn't occur to me.

No worries, being enlisted they have different education benefits than for officers so it is worth getting information about and using as a benefit. Some of the coolest people I met in college were prior enlisted members doing ROTC and were older so were serious students with life experience. Those are the people I wanted to do group projects with because they had their act together and knew about team work and wanted grades for scholarships or other things.

Speaking of ROTC, if you want to be in the military but also want to finish school, have you talked to any of the branches or departments at your school or another one? It might not hurt and you'd get the same result but as an officer and a finished degree. I know some schools do not have their own Battalion so they share with another school (Idaho has all branches of ROTC, and students from Lewis and Clark State College participate here as their school doesn't have ROTC). This is some info on Green to Gold, obviously the program could change but it gives you a general idea http://www.armyrotc.uidaho.edu/default.aspx?pid=78188

From what my friends told me, get everything they promised in writing.

cosign getting it in writing. Especially if it pertains to duty stations. In the navy, they wouldnt schedule you for permantnet duty station order until after you ere done with basic and trainin schools.